Re: Theos-World Explaining God?

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Cass Silva <silva_cass@y...> wrote:
> But didnt Mohammed mean "there is no god (other gods) but God"
Didn't his religion change the ruling tribes of Koresh (forgive
spelling) from pantheism to monotheism. Nothingness as referred to,
could mean NO THING NESS
>
> Andrew Smith <aupanishad@m...> wrote:
> One thing has always bothered me, and that is the definitions and
names and other restrictions we place upon the ultimate deity we can
imagine only. HPB (of Theosophy fame) once talked about this in the
Introduction to "Isis Unveiled." The Hindus talk about "God"
as "Neti, neti" (nothing, nothing), and many mystics of all kinds
think it is more reverent to speak little or none about the deity
rather than try to hold Him in a religious "bottle" like a Genii.
Zen "nothingness" (shunyata) also portrays this concept in their own
version of Buddhism. I am in agreement with this movement, no matter
how much I have said in the past (and no matter how bloody Islam's
past, present, or future---those understand nothing of Allah's love
for mankind). And now I feel that the simple "tawhid" (monotheism) of
Islam is the best way to know the deity. In other words "There is no
god but God" (la ilaha il'Allah) is the perfect way to attack this
conundrum. Regardless of how Muslims act in view of this
> Great Truth, most of it due to the battlefields of the Middle-East
throughout the centuries as civilization developes, Muhammad was
truly given a Great Revelation when he found that "There is no god
but God."
>
> Now, from a purely human, even scientific, viewpoint, there may be
aliens or "gods" out in space, may even be UFOs, or "the Borg" (ah,
those jokes were atrocious! LOL), but they can never be the deity Who
is "the Beneficent and the Merciful." Muhammad wrote the Qur'an in
his day for his people who were completely corrupt, and even killed
baby daughters because they wanted sons only, but what the message of
the "Qur'an is, is that we must be in gratitude to the One from Whom
we sprang, however that was. In other words, as succinctly put in the
beginning and end of Ian Dallas's book, The Book of Strangers," "La
ilaha il'Allah."
>
>
> "Salaam Alaikum,"
> (Says) Al-Hallaj Kabir Ali
> "La ilaha il'Allah!"
>
Cass,
I don't mean to mince words. The basis of all this is the "tawhid"
(Absolute Monotheism) of Allah. The "jahilyah" (Pagan Arabs) were
polytheisits, as were, and I can verify this, the Jews, and certainly
the Christians (e.g. trinity, etc.) Even if Muhammad did not have a
revelation (which I believe he DID), he was a genius for drawing pure
tawhid out of the morass that Judaism and Christianity had
created. "La ilaha il'Allah" is the perfect answer to all of this
mess we call religion today. The CruSades (cf. the Marquis de Sade)
are not over yet---just ask George Bush. As far as the "Nothingness"
of the divine, you will find in any number of books on mysticism
where pure faith is to know God as the cavity of the heart where "La
ilalha il'Allah" is the only thing that can fill it. Read, for
instance Meister Eckhart, St. Augustine,, Mircea Eliade, etc.